HBO elevates the art of the cop drama with True Detective'

In "True Detective, " Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) and Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) separately recount their story of a murder case and their lives with flashbacks that move back and forth from 1995 to 2012 and 2002.

In an effort that has the potential to be one of the best and boldest new TV dramas of the year, two film stars exhibit on the small screen the advantage of working in an extended serial, and the power that comes of inhabiting a role over the course of eight hours.

“True Detective,” premiering Jan. 12 on HBO, is the next great drama to explore the elasticity of the narrative form, pairing a dark story that traverses time with excellent actors vying for prominence. The fact that Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson are movie names is the least interesting reason to watch.

The eight episodes were created and written by novelist Nic Pizzolatto, further proof that a single author’s voice can inform series television in a distinctive way, where the usual committee of writers patching together episodes can’t.

While it’s not fun entertainment (lacking the tragicomic notes of, say, “The Sopranos”), it is an amazing dramatic entry. It’s only January, and only four episodes were available for review, but “True Detective” sets the bar for 2014's TV newcomers.

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Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson) were detective partners on a bizarre Louisiana murder case in 1995. The case had elements of occult human sacrifice and, while it was particularly unnerving, so was the fallout on the lives of the two men. Seventeen years later, when a similar case leads to an investigation of the ’95 murder, Cohle and Hart are questioned by a new set of detectives. In a device that thankfully doesn’t become tiresome, they separately recount the story of the case and their lives, with constant flashbacks handled with virtuoso style by director Cary Joji Fukunaga (“Jane Eyre”).

As the story shifts between 1995, 2012 and 2002, the year Cohle left the Criminal Investigation Division, the men physically alter with the periods. Not just hairstyles but spirits and essen-ces shift. Memories diverge and conflict, the intersection of personal lives and police work becomes part of the tale, recollections lead to recriminations. And we’re left to wonder which character the title actually references.

McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”) alternates between clean-cut detective in jacket and tie, and burned-out, long-haired, chain-smoking and beer-drinking former undercover narcotics cop. In the later period, he has lines etched into his face, a hollowness in his eyes, and an emptiness inside as he reveals harrowing memories of a failed marriage. His Rust Cohle is a Texas loner, spouting existential philosophy in the squad car, reading up on occult practices. The actor transforms back and forth in time, shuffling the deck that is his life. Clearly, with “Dallas Buyers Club,” “The Wolf of Wall Street” and this effort combined, McConaughey is having the year of his life.

Harrelson (“The People vs. Larry Flynt”) undergoes a less drastic physical transformation as the “True Detective” time periods shift, but his character evolves as well. His Martin Hart is, on the surface, a native Louisianan, a macho cop and extroverted family man who feels comfortable judging Cohle. He just wants Cohle to quit with the weird depressive angst and be a regular guy. Hart has a busy sex life outside his marriage, and has no qualms about berating his girlfriend for dating other men.

The case and the private lives grow more and more complicated, as does the relationship between the two men.

We’ve seen the mismatched- cop dramas in which one detective is quiet, one is chatty; one is married with kids, the other single. We learned from “Cagney & Lacey” (Sharon Gless and Tyne Daly) and Hill and Renko (Michael Warren and Charles Haid) on “Hill Street Blues” in the 1980s, from Sipowicz and Kelly (Dennis Franz and David Caruso) on “NYPD Blue” in the 1990s, from the constellation of personalities around Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) on “The Shield” in the 2000s, and from the android/human buddy cop drama “Almost Human” in 2013 — that detectives are tough customers with complicated home lives and weak social skills, not prone to self-scrutiny. We know that, when the bad guys threaten, even the stubbornest bickering partners have each other’s back.

From “True Detective” and writer Pizzolatto we’ll learn that crime can be compelling, characters can be fascinating, but time plays an equally large role in the drama of life.

We know from the start that this is one cop show in which the two mismatched detectives turn out not to be buddies.